Director: Sara Dosa
Written by: Shane Boris, Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, Sara Dosa
Starring: Miranda July, Katie Krafft, Maurice Krafft
Unrated
Runtime: 93 minutes
In theaters July 6

by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

I prefer an intense and short life to a monotonous, long one. A kamikaze existence in the beauty of volcanic things.

It can take a lot for me to leave the comforting embrace of horror movies. I am especially terrible at keeping up with documentaries and rarely seek ones out that don’t have to do with film. Although I was transfixed when the trailer for Fire of Love played before Crimes of the Future and I knew this was something special that could not be missed. I was happy enough to be correct in this assessment. This is a gorgeous introspective film that is hard to write about so much of what I love is in the emotional elements. It is a film about love, death, passion, curiosity, and the miracle of nature.

Fire of Love narrates the love story of Katie and Maurice Krafft. The two met when they were students and shared a passionate love of volcanoes. They ultimately fell for each other they decided to dedicate their lives to the study of volcanoes and tried to unlock the mysteries of these beautiful and terrifying beasts. The couple spent years dedicated to their research; writing books, lecturing, but mostly traveling to see any and all volcanic activity they could. This documentary takes hundreds of hours of footage, interviews, and photographs the two left behind after their death in 1991 on Mount Unzen in Japan and unfolds a story about two thrill-seeking scientists who wanted nothing more than to stand together on the edge of danger.

I was deeply moved watching Fire of Love. I felt immediately transported back to grade school where I fell in love with natural sciences and how I longed to be a marine biologist. I also thought back on the projects I did on volcanoes and other natural wonders. I do not know when I lost this passion for the natural world but my heart ached for that childhood wonder I had lost. Something that the Kraffts managed to maintain their entire lives. I thought about all the beauty in the world that I have yet to see as I watched these courageous little people explore breathtaking wonders as I sat on my living room couch. And I thought about love and how beautiful it is while I share the experience of this film with my own love. It is hard to think about the technical when there is so much to simply be felt from this 93-minute epic.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is its focus on humanity and its relationship with the natural world. Maurice and Katie felt disenchanted with the wars and politics that plagued humanity and retracted from it in order to study the world around them. However nature and humanity are so connected that it becomes clear how deeply human centered their work was. They dreamed of volcanoes and humans living together and wanted to prevent the death tolls that often accompany eruptions. They gave their lives to learn about these natural wonders in order to find ways to warn humans about eruptions and move them before anything happened. As we live in a world that faces a variety of social and natural ills I kept thinking about how we should spend more time looking in awe at the natural beauty around us and how that could maybe save humans from themselves.

Of course there are so many themes and emotions to take away from this but I should also mention how breathtaking the shots were. To get a glimpse into all that these two were able to collect via film and photography was a gift. I hope to see this on the big screen someday because I can only imagine how much more effective this would be on the big screen. The preservation of these treasures is something to behold. It also has a tremendous score and beautiful illustrations that help to sweep you away on this raw emotional journey.

I loved getting to peek into the lives of two people I knew absolutely nothing about. Their story is a beautiful one that deserves your undivided attention. Their emotions, philosophies and way of looking at the world have given me much to ponder days after my viewing. I suspect I will be thinking on this for a significant time. Much of Fire of Love uses their videos and interviews, allowing the two lovers to speak for themselves. We get insight into what brought them together as well as the areas they differed, and even disagreed. But one thing was clear, these two humans wanted nothing more than to take in all that volcanoes could teach them, and they would do it every day until the end. If you are able to find this I suggest engrossing yourself in their volcanic love.